Building regulations abuse is rampant in Malta and I have a feeling that, in these last few years, it has increased.
I do not have statistical evidence of this but in Sliema and Gżira alone, on many construction sites, builders are increasingly and blatantly disregarding construction regulations.

From what I gather there is a multiplicity of enforcers relating to construction: enforcement relating to health and safety is regulated by the OHSA, dangerous building is regulated by the police and dust emissions by the buildings regulation office. In addition, some aspects of enforcement needs sanctioning by the law courts.

Thus, we have many different enforcers, with the bottom line being very weak enforcement. When it comes to building abuse, I think Malta comes firstin Europe.

It’s about time that the authorities create some form of one-stop shop where all forms of building abuse can be reported, without undue bureaucracy.

Also, given the bullying tactics of some (I emphasise some, not all) contractors, the person filing a report should as much as possible be shielded from retaliation. Each reported abuse should be checked by competent inspectors and, therefore, more inspectors should be employed.

There is a Facebook community entitled ‘Against building regulations abuse (Abra)’ which aims to educate the public regarding the building regulations in Malta and also to bring regulations abuse to the notice of the authorities.